Passenger seat, an aircraft passenger seat in particular

ABSTRACT

In a passenger seat, an aircraft passenger seat in particular, having seat components such as a back rest, a seat component, at least one console component delimiting the seat component on the side, and a table top  9  adjustable to an initial position and a use position, the console component having an interior compartment in which the table top  9  may be displaced in a guide  1  between the lowered initial position and a ready position when extracted from the upper end of the console component along the plane of the table top, and there being provided at the upper end of the guide  1  a bearing configuration  19, 21, 25, 27  functioning as support of the table top  9  and permitting pivoting of the table top  9  from the initial position into the horizontal use position.

The invention relates to a passenger seat, an aircraft passenger seat in particular, having seat components such as a back rest, a seat component, at least one console component delimiting the seat component on the side, and a table top adjustable to an initial position and a use position.

Known seats of this type are widely used in vehicles for transportation of passengers, especially in means of transportation which are designed for long travel distances and correspondingly long travel periods. The presence of a table top available to a seat occupant is an essential mark of comfort in the case of seats such as those of ferries, interurban buses, and especially aircraft passenger seats in commercial aviation, since not only is a table surface made available for meals and beverages to the seat occupant as passenger refreshment, but one available to the seat occupant for depositing items or as a work surface for reading, writing, games, and the like.

On the other hand, an effort is to be made in means of transportation for commercial passenger transportation to achieve optimum utilization of the cabin space available for installation of seats. Consequently, a configuration is required for the seats which is both as space-saving as possible but also affords the seat occupant the greatest possible comfort. With respect to these requirements the invention has the object of creating a passenger seat, an aircraft passenger seat in particular, which, despite its compact configuration and correspondingly small space required for the interior of the cabin involved, makes available to the seat occupant a table top configured to be large enough to be conveniently used by the seat occupant.

It is claimed for the invention this object is attained by a seat having the characteristics specified in claim 1 in its entirety.

In that, as specified in the characterizing part of claim 1, the table top may be lowered into the interior compartment of a console component positioned on the side of the seat component and structural space already available in the overall structure of the seat and represented by the interior of the console component is used to accommodate the table top in the initial position, that is, in the non-use position. Since the entire vertical dimension of the console component is available for the length of the compartment and the compartment may be designed to be wide enough, a large table surface may be obtained for the table top in an especially advantageous manner without the need for sacrificing the compactness of the seat as a whole.

In one advantageous exemplary embodiment there is provided on the end of the table top, which is positioned at the upper end of the console component when in the initial position, a small auxiliary table which in the initial position forms a cover of the top of the compartment and at least a part of an arm rest on the console component. When the table top is fully lowered, a closed upper side of the console component is obtained, along with an additional useful area, for example, a surface for depositing small objects such as beverage containers, and/or an arm rest, optionally in the form of an additional component which supplements an arm rest on the upper part of the console component.

In exemplary embodiments in which the bearing configuration provided for pivoting of the table top has pivot mounting pins projecting laterally which define the pivot axis for the pivoting movement of the table top, the pivot mounting pins may be mounted such that the pivot axis is at a distance from the associated end of the table top. The amount selected for this distance may be such that, when the table top is in the horizontal use position, its end area covers the upper end of the compartment in the console component, so that the console component has a closed form on the upper end even when the table top is in the use position, the plane of an arm initially positioned beside the compartment optionally moving into the plane of the horizontal table top without a shoulder.

The pivot pins of the table top may form a part of the guide elements provided on the table top, elements which operate in conjunction with the guide present in the compartment.

In one especially advantageous exemplary embodiment the bearing configuration which connects the end of the table top to the console component forms at the upper end of the guide a bearing seat for each pivot pin into which the pivot axes may be inserted by movement transversely to the direction of the guide and longitudinal in relation to the plane of the table top, pivot axes in which the pivot pins, and accordingly the table top, are secured against movement along the guide.

In order to generate movement of insertion of the bearing pins into the bearing seat, the bearing configuration may have control surfaces at the upper end of the guide which, in conjunction with at least one control element on the table top, form a forced guidance in order to convert the pivoting movement of the table top to transverse movement of the table top for guiding for insertion of the pivot pin into the respective associate bearing seat. It is advantageous for the process to include automatic locking of the end of the table top associated with the bearing configuration on the guide on the console component when the table top is moved from the ready position to the use position.

Control elements, which, like the pivot pins on the table top, are mounted on the side at a certain distance from the pivot pin involved and adjacent to the end of the table top and narrower than the latter, may form another part of the guide elements controlled in the guide.

In one advantageous exemplary embodiment the guide has U-shaped profile rails extending on both sides of the table top in the direction of the compartment between the sides of which the control elements projecting from both sides of the table top are guided.

As has already been stated, the depth and width of the compartment in the console component make it possible to design a table top of very large area. In order to make more free space or greater freedom of movement available to the seat occupant in instances in which a smaller table surface is sufficient, the table top may be divided, preferably to one-half of its area, and its parts may be folded by means of a hinge configuration. The auxiliary table, which is hinge-connected to the free end of the table top, may, when the latter is folded, form a usable table surface adjoining the service area of the arm rest, that is, it may perform a function similar to that of the auxiliary table when the table top is lowered into the initial position.

The invention will be described in detail below with reference to an exemplary embodiment illustrated in the drawing, in which

FIG. 1 presents a perspective oblique view of a simplified diagram of the interior components of a console component of an exemplary embodiment of the seat claimed for the invention otherwise not shown, there being shown a guide provided in an interior compartment of the console component along which guide a divided table top having an auxiliary table mounted on the end so as to be movable has an arm rest on the upper end;

FIG. 2 an oblique view of a diagram, on a scale smaller than that of FIG. 1, which illustrates only the table top with auxiliary table completely lowered into the compartment of the console component (not shown);

FIG. 3 an enlarged partial perspective view of the area in FIG. 2 designated as III;

FIG. 4 an illustration similar to that of FIG. 1, but with the difference that the table top has been raised from its lowered position part of the way toward its extracted ready position;

FIG. 5 a view similar to that of FIG. 2 but on a small scale, the table top, broken off as shown, being presented as in the fully extracted ready position;

FIG. 6 an enlarged partial view of the area designated as VI in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 an illustration similar to that of FIGS. 2 and 5, on a small scale, the table top being shown in the horizontal use position;

FIG. 8 an enlarged partial view of the area designated as VIII in FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 an illustration similar to that of FIG. 4, the table top being illustrated in the use position and in the process of folding to reduce the table surface area;

FIG. 10 an illustration similar to that of FIG. 9, the table top being shown in the use position and completely folded.

The invention will be described below on the basis of an example of an aircraft passenger seat, only some structural components which are components of a console component forming the side limit of the seat component being illustrated and the console component being shown without outer cover. This console component has a vertical interior compartment in which is mounted a guide 1 in the form of a metal frame support having U-shaped profile rails 3 and 5 which extend vertically and in parallel with each other. Crossbeams connecting the U-shaped profile rails 3 and 5 to each other are designated as 7. A table top 9 divided in the middle at 10 may be controlled to move longitudinally in the guide 1, more precisely along the U-shaped profile rails 5, the table top halves being connected to each other by means of a hinge 11. This hinge 11 is mounted in such a way that it permits pivoting movement of the outer table top component in only one direction with the table top 9 in the extended position, as is to be seen in FIG. 7, for example, specifically, in the manner illustrated in FIGS. 9 and 10, that is, from the extended position to the folded position show in FIG. 10, the outer half of the table top 9 coming to rest above the inner table top half.

An auxiliary table 13 small in surface is hinge-mounted on the free or outer end of the table top 9. In the initial position shown in FIG. 1, in which the table top 9 is fully lowered, the auxiliary table 13, in a horizontal position, effects seamless transition to an arm rest 15 positioned at the top of the console component. In the present example this arm rest 15 is the same in form as that of the auxiliary table 13, so that auxiliary table 13 and arm rest 15 together form a useful surface or deposit surface with recesses 17 as holders for beverage containers.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show the table top 9 in its fully lowered initial position or out-of-use position, while FIG. 4 shows the table top 9 in the partly extracted position before reaching a fully extracted ready position. The latter is illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6. As is to be seen in FIGS. 3 and 6 in particular, laterally projecting elements guided between the sides of the U-shaped profile rails 5, of which only the element lying on a side edge of the table top 9 is shown, are positioned in the area of the lower end of the table top 9, while the elements present on the opposite side edge in a corresponding position are not to be seen. These elements guided in the U-shaped profile rails are in the form of a pair of pivot pins 19 which are spaced a certain distance from the adjacent end of the table top 9 (only one pivot pin 19 is to be seen on one side of the table top 9). Positioned nearer the end of the table top 9 there are closely adjacent control elements 21 of the same design, one on each side of this table top; they as well are guided in the U-shaped profile rails 5. The pivot pins 19 and the control elements 21 may be in the form of stationary pins or guide rollers.

FIG. 6 shows the table top 9 in the fully extracted ready position, the pivot pins 19 being positioned at the upper end of the guide of the profile rails 5, this upper end of the U-shaped profile rails 5 being closed on both sides by top plates 23 (only one top plate 23 is visible on the side facing the observer), which top plate 23 connects the U-shaped profile rail 5 to the rear U-shaped profile rail 3. As is also to be seen in FIG. 9, in this ready position the control elements 21 are situated a vertical distance from the pivot pins 19 and in the entrance area of an arched profile section 25 which is configured in the top plate 23 and which branches off from the U-shaped profile rails. At the same time, the pivot pins 19 are positioned at the level of a camber 27 on the upper end of the U-shaped profile rails 5, this camber 27 forming a bearing seat for the pivot pins 19, which bearing seat forms with the latter a pivot axis for pivoting of the table top 9 from the ready position into the horizontal use position.

As is shown by comparison of FIGS. 6 and 8, in this pivoting movement the control elements 21 move in the arched profile section 25 up to the upper closed end of the latter; see FIG. 8. The curvature selected for the profile section 25 is such that movement of the control elements 21 in contact with the control surfaces 29 results in displacement of the table top 9 to the left in the direction of its plate level (as viewed in the direction of FIG. 8), as a result of which the pivot pins reach the bearing seat formed by the camber 27, so that displacement of the pivot pins 19 downward along the U-shaped profile rails 5 is prevented. Since at the same time the control elements 21 are in contact with the upper end of the arched profile section 25, the table top 9 is blocked from further counterclockwise movement (as viewed in the direction of FIG. 8). If the table top 9 is pivoted from the horizontal use position clockwise upward back to the ready position, the control elements 21 move out of the cambered profile section 25, as a result of which the table top 9 is released from the locked position, so that it may be moved back from the ready position to the lowered initial position.

Because of the distance between the pivot pins 19 and the adjacent end of the table top 9, in the use position the end area of the table top 9 extends over the upper area of the compartment to the arm rest 15 initially positioned on the upper end of the console component. Consequently, even when the table top 9 is in the use position the upper opening of the compartment is closed by the end component of the table top 9 (see FIG. 9).

As FIG. 7 shows, the auxiliary table 13 lies on the top of the table top 9 when the latter is in the use position, while the auxiliary table 13, because of its hinged connection with the table top 9 lies, when in the folded position shown in FIG. 10, on the lower side of the latter and adjoins the arm rest 15. 

1. A passenger seat, an aircraft passenger seat in particular, having seat components such as a back rest, a seat component, at least one console component delimiting the seat component on the side, and a table top (9) adjustable to an initial position and a use position, characterized in that the table top (9) has an interior compartment in which the table top (9) may be displaced in a guide (1) between the lowered initial position and a ready position when extracted from the upper end of the console component along the plane of the table top (9), and in that there is provided on the upper end of the guide (1) a bearing configuration (19, 21, 25, 27) functioning as a support of the table top (9) and permitting pivoting movement of the table top (9) from the initial position into the horizontal use position.
 2. The seat as claimed in claim 1, wherein there is provided on the end of the table top (9) which is positioned at the upper end of the console component when in the initial position an auxiliary table (13) small in area hinge-connected to this table top (9), which auxiliary table (13) when in the initial position forms a cover of the top of the compartment and at least a part of an arm rest (15).
 3. The seat as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the bearing configuration, in conjunction with the pivot pin (19) provided on the side of the table top (9), defines a pivot axis for the pivoting movement of the table top (9), which pivot axis is positioned at a distance from the associated end of the table top (9).
 4. The seat as claimed in claim 3, wherein the pivot pins (19) of the table top (9) form at least one part of the guide elements of the table top (9) operating in conjunction with the guide (1).
 5. The seat as claimed in claim 4, wherein the bearing configuration at the upper end of the guide (1) forms for each pivot pin (19) a bearing seat (27) into which the respective pivot pin (19) may be introduced by movement of the table top (9) in a direction transverse to the direction of the guide (1) and longitudinal in relation to the plane of the table top (9) preventing the pivot pin (19), and consequently the table top (9), from moving along the guide (1).
 6. The seat as claimed in claim 5, wherein the bearing configuration has at the upper end of the guide (1) control surfaces (29) which, in conjunction with at least one control element (21) on the table top (9), form a forced guidance in order to convert the pivoting movement of the table top (9) to movement of the table top (9) transverse to the guide (1) for introduction of the pivot pin (19) into the respective associated bearing seat (27).
 7. The seat as claimed in claim 6, wherein at least one control element (21) is mounted on the side of the table top (9) at a distance from the pivot pin (19) and at a distance to respective table top (9) smaller than that of the pivot pin (19) and forms another component of the guide elements of the table top (9) controlled in the guide (1).
 8. The seat as claimed in claim 7, wherein the guide (1) has on both sides of the table top (9) U-shaped profile rails (5) between the sides of which control elements (19, 21) projecting from both sides of the table top (9) are guided.
 9. The seat as claimed in claim 8, wherein the bearing seats are formed at the upper end of the U-shaped profile rails (5) by a camber (27) of the profile of the rails (5) displaced in relation to the longitudinal axis of these U-shaped profile rails (5), into which seats the respective pivot pins (19) may be introduced by displacement transversely to the direction of the guide.
 10. The seat as claimed in claim 9, wherein an arched profile section (25) on the U-shaped profile rails (5) displaced downward in contrast to the camber (27) receives at least one control element (21) during pivoting movement of the table top (9) from the ready position to the use position and forms the control surfaces (29) which generate the displacement movement extending transversely to the direction of the guide for introduction of the pivot bearing pins (19) into the respective bearing seats (27).
 11. The seat as claimed in claim 10, wherein two control elements (21) closely adjacent to the end of the table top (9) and positioned side by side are provided on both sides of the table top (9).
 12. The seat as claimed in claim 11, wherein the pivot pins (19) and the control elements (21) are of the same configuration, preferably in the form of guide rollers guided in the U-shaped profile rails (5).
 13. The seat as claimed in one of claims 1 to 12, wherein the table top (9) is divided and its parts may be folded together by means of a hinge configuration (11) in order to reduce the surface area of the table, preferably by one half, and wherein the auxiliary table (13) forms a useful surface adjoining the usable surface of the arm rest (15) when the table top (9) is in the folded position. 